(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic tunnel junction device and a manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, it relates to a magnetic tunnel junction device forming a magnetic tunnel junction structure and improving a characteristic of the structure through annealing, and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, various types of memories have been developed. For example, a magnetic random access memory (MRAM), a phase-change random access memory (PRAM), and a resistive random access memory (RRAM) have been developed.
The MRAM uses a magnetic tunnel junction (MJT) element as a data storage element. The magnetic tunnel junction element included in a memory cell is based on ferromagnetic tunnel junction properties. The magnetic tunnel junction element consists of two magnetic layers separated by an insulating layer, and the current flows in the insulating layer through the tunneling mechanism. Here, when the relative magnetization directions of the two magnetic layers are parallel to each other, the magnetic tunnel junction element has low resistance. In contrast, when the two magnetic layers have an antiparallel magnetization configuration, the magnetic tunnel junction element has high resistance. The low resistance and the high resistance indicate digital data, respectively, corresponding to 0 and 1.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for the enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.